Free The Bringer by Samantha Towle

the way back from that wedding I told you I was going to, I somehow managed to crash my car into a tree, and it set on fire. Lucyna pulled me out of it. If it wasn’t for her I’d be dead right now.”
    She scoots her chair closer to him. “My God, James. I can’t believe it – Jesus Christ. I just –” She pauses and shakes her head. “But you’re okay now, though?”
    “ Yeah, I’m fine. Just a broken leg and a few stitches.” He points to his head. “I’m lucky. It would have been much, much, worse, if it wasn’t for Lucyna.”
    She nods her head slowly, gazing at him, then pulls her eyes away from him to look at me. “Thank you for what you did, for saving James,” she says with real sincerity before placing a protective hand on his arm. “I don’t know what I’d do without him.” She shakes her head. “Well it doesn’t even bear thinking about.” She gazes back at him and I suddenly feel like I’ve intruded on a moment I don’t really belong in.
    But James’s eyes aren’t on her. He’s staring straight ahead. He picks up his glass of water and begins to sip it. Sara looks down at her hands. For a few seconds there’s a really awkward, prickly silence in the room, making those seconds feel like hours.
    Sara looks up at me and forces a smile onto her lips, her eyes drifting to the door behind me. I’m getting the distinct impression that she doesn’t require my presence here any more.
    Maybe I should go, give them time alone to talk. But I’m torn as I really don’t want to leave James. Selfish, I know.
    Fortunately the reasonable, selfless side of me wins, even though parting from him for even just a short space of time fills me with dread. But I have to redeem myself in some way, show myself I’m not totally self-serving.
    I stand up. James’ surprised eyes instantly follow me up. “I should go.” I point toward the door.
    “ Go?” His brow furrows. “Oh, right, I just, I – er, I haven’t had a chance to thank you – I mean properly. I really need to do something to repay you –” The hesitancy in his voice is audible and I somehow manage to keep the smile from my face at his reaction to my impending departure while ensuring I avoid acknowledging the scowl on Sara’s.
    “ I can come back later if you still need to talk to me about the accident,” I say.
    His face relaxes and his eyes crinkle up at the corners. “Would you? I’m not –”
    “ James?” He’s interrupted by a female voice, and I glance at the door to see a large portly woman in nurse’s attire, with glasses perched on the tip of her nose, standing partway into the room, her hand holding the door open. She pauses momentarily, peering over her glasses at us all, then continues on to say, “Your discharge papers will be ready for you sometime this afternoon.”
    “ Thanks,” he says.
    “ Are you’re okay getting home or do you need transport arranging?” she asks.
    “ I’ll be fine. I’ll take a taxi.”
    “ I can arrange that for you.”
    “ You sure?”
    The nurse nods.
    “ That’d be great then, thanks.” He smiles.
    “ You don’t need a taxi,” Sara says. “I’ll take you home.”
    “ You’ll be at work. You should be there now,” James says, glancing up at the clock on the wall.
    “ It’ll be fine. I’ll just take a flyer -”
    “ No.” He has a smile on his lips, but a stern tone in his voice. “I don’t know exactly what time it’ll be when they release me and I don’t want you getting into trouble at work. I’ll take a taxi.”
    I can hear the nurse tapping her fingernails on the door and her intermittent sighs of impatience as James and Sara continue on with their fruitless disagreement, and I stand there wondering if I should just make my exit now or not.
    “ But how will you manage?” Sara says.
    “ I’ve only got a broken leg,” he laughs. “I’m not an invalid. I can manage.”
    “ But you’ll need help and –”
    “ I can help,” I interject